Charles d



C. D. FRBES.

APPARATUS FOR TIPPING GAS TUBING. Patented Deo.- 1, A1896.v

FIG.

FIC-3.6.

TN: mls PETERS moro-um (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES D. FREES, OF NEY YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR TIPPING GAS-TUBING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,419, dated December 1, 1896. Application filed May 1l, 1896. Serial No. 591,152. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. FREES, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Tipping Gas- Tubing, of which the following is a specification. Y

' This invention relates to the application of tips to tubing, such, for instance, as is used for conducting gas to illuminating orheatin g burners.

The invention has for its object. to lnaterially reduce the cost of the tipping process and promote more secure fastening of the tips, thereby economizing in the manufacture, while improving the quality of the finished tubing.

The invention will irst be described and then will be particularly defined in claims hereinafter set forth.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar numerals indicate like parts in the several views.

Figure l is a side elevation of a revoluble clamping device and a tip-plug ready to be placed on the clamp. Fig. 2 is a detail crosssection taken on the line 03 00in Fig. 3. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 illustrate different stages of the operation hereinafter described, and Fig. 6

illustrates the operation with a modified plu g.

clamping device and another form of tip used for portable tubing.

I will rst describe the apparatus illustrated in Figs. l to 5, inclusive, of the drawings, which show the most common form of tipped gas-tubing. In these views the flexible tubing proper is shown as a cylinder 1, which has within it the ordinary metal-wire spiral foundation 2, and at its extremity is provided with the usual ferrule 3. A tubular metal plug 4, having an external spiral groove or screw-thread to which the tubespiral 2 is adapted, is inserted for most of its length within the tubing, and the elastic tip end 5 is usually a rubber compound iitted to the projecting end-of the plug 4 and within the ferrule. The tubing proper, l, is usually made up of outer and inner fabric braids with a glue composition interposed between them. All these parts 1 2 3 4 5 occupyusual relative positions in the nished tubing and may have various forms within the scope of my invention.

The apparatus shown in Figs. l, 2, and -3 of the drawings comprises a clamp 6, held to a preferably horizontal spindle 7, adapted for rotation in a bearing 8 by means of a belted pulley 9 when a suitable half-clutch 10 on 'the spindle is moved into engagement with a half-clutch 1l on the continuously-rotating pulley. The clamp G here shown has an outer portion, made preferably cylindrical or with parallel rounded sides and upon which the interior of the plug 4 fits loosely, and an in' ner `portion which is larger next the spindle and gradually tapers outward and is preferably given a triangular cross-sectional form (shown in Fig. 2) to provide a series of sharp clamping edges. This revoluble clamp Gis of such length that when the plug 4 is slipped upon it until it binds upon the sharp edges of the tapered inner part of the clamp the outer end 6 of the clamp will protrude beyond the back end of the plug. This protruding portion 6 is suitably rounded at its sides and end to form a quick and sure expander and guide for the tube-spiral 2 without danger of catching therein.

The method of operation is as follows: The ferrule 3 is placed upon the end of the tubing 1, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The tubular plug-4 now is slipped upon the clamp 6 and pushed inward until the sharp edges of the tapered angular inner portion of the clamp bite the plug internally and compel its rotation with the clamp, while the extremity G of the clamp projects beyond the plug to form a guide for the metal spiral lining of the tubing. While the plug is being thus rotated it is'coated on the outer surface with a glue or othervsuitable adhesive compound (shown by shading lines in Fig. 3) by means of a brush or Wiper, whereupon the tubing 1, having the ferrule 3 applied to it, is pushed forward over the end 6a of the revolving clamp 6 and upon the revolving glued plug 4 and preferably for the greater part of the length of said plug, while the spiral 2 engages the IOO exterior threads of the plug and thereby securely couples therewith. The connected tube and plug now are withdrawn from the clamp, when they appear as shown in Fig. 4,

and the trip end is then pressed by hand upon the projecting end of the glued plug 4. This forces some of the glue outward upon the inner face of the ferrule, which thus is glued to the outer' face of the tip end, while the inner face of said end is glued to the outer face of the plug as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. In this operation the end 6 of the clamp 6, by projecting beyond the clamped plug 4, serves the important function of a guide which enters the tube-spiral 2 and eX- pands and steadies it and compels it to at once take the exterior thread of the plug 4 as the ferruled tube l 3 is pushed forward by hand over the rotating clamp and plug. This is a great advantage over the usual method of screwing the plug into the tube by hand, as with handwerk difficulty is often experienced in screwing in the plug, so much so that it has been common after the tube 1 2 is sheared off at the end to pick out a portion of the spiral 2from the tube and shear off this drawn-out portion of the spiral in order to enter the plug easily. Vhen the hands tire by this screwing process, the operator would often cut away an excessive portion of the spiral 2 to make the screwing in of the plug more easy, thus leaving an insufficient length of the spiral inside of the ferrule 3, and consequently the whole tip was much less securely fastened to the tubing than it is by my method, which permits the pushing of the squarely sheared-oif end of the tubing l 2 directly upon the rotating clamp and plug and assures unfailing and instant engagement of the plu g-threads with the tube-spiral without requiring cutting away of any portion of the spiral, thus leaving the whole of it within the ferrule 3 to force the tube outward closely to all that part of the ferrule which incloses the tube, thereby making a much more secure and gas-tight connection of the entire tip with the tubing.

Furthermore, in applying the tip by ordinary handwerk it is customary to use a handled three-cornered file, upon the outer end of which thev plug 4 is placed. The file end passes only part way through the plug expressly to allow the outer end of the plug to be struck forcibly against the palm of the left hand or against a post or block of wood in order to drive the plug back on the file with sufficient force to cause the angles or edges of the file to bite or clamp the plug suieiently hard to prevent its turning on the file when the plug is screwed into the tubing by turning the file by hand. As the lile does not project beyond the forward end of the plug 4 to serve as an initial guiding-mandrel to the spiral 2, it is often quite difficult to engage the plug directly with the spiral, especially if the tubing 1 be a trifie large and be compressed at the ends in applying a standardsize ferrnle 3 to it,which often closes the end of the tube and spiral to an extent making it almost impossible to directly enter the plug into the spiral and engage the plug-threads with the turns of the spiral. happens that the forward end of the plug on the file strikes the outer end of the spiral and presses it forward by closing its coils together within the tube 1, and oftentimes this tube and its spiral lining are cut off more than once to relieve or readj ust the spiral before the plug can be properly engaged with it. These disadvantages emphasize the importance of my improved tube-tipping tool having inner edges or portions clamping the plug to rotate it and having a rounded or tapered extremity which projects beyond the forward end of` the clamp-plug and Vfirst enters and laterally spreads and steadies the spiral lining 2 before the plug touches the spiral, thus always assuring instant and unfailin g engagement of the plug-threads with the turns of the spiral without requiring cutting of the spiral or any attention of the operator further than simply pushing the tubing upon the revolving mandrel and plug or turning the mandrel and plug into the tubing. This improved mandrel plug-clamp is adapted for use with greatly-improved results when rotated directly by hand or by a power-spindle in the preferred manner herein shown and described.

In Fig. 0 of the drawings the modified tubular metal plug has at one end an externally-screw-threaded portion 12, and its opposite end is formed as an integral internally threaded socket 13, adapted to screw upon the nipple of a portable lamp or other burner device. An intermediate shoulder or flange 14 is usually provided between the parts 12 13. This view also illustrates a modified form of revoluble clamp 15,which at its inner portion has one or more undercut shoulders 16, adapted to clamp the exterior end portion of the plug-socket 13 and compel the entire plug to turn with the spindle 7 ,when the ferruled tube l 2 3 is pressed forward upon the gluecoated threaded portion 12,which engages the tube-spiral 2 until the ferrule 3 strikes the flange 14. The projecting end 6 of the eX- ternally-aeting plug-clamp 15 operates similarly to the end G of the internally-acting plug-clamp 6 to compel instant engagement of the spiral with the threaded plug in manner above described.

By my improved plu g-clamping and spiralwire guiding tool, and lnore especially when the tool is incorporated in the preferred power apparatus shown in the drawings, a very large economy of time and labor is realized in tipping the gas-tubing, the saving in these respects by actual tests being over onehalf, while at the same time the tubing is much more satisfactorily finished, as the tips are more securely attached and there is therefore less liability of leakage at the joints of the tips of gas or fluid passing through the tubing. Y

I claim as my invention- 1. A tube-tipping tool having inner edges or portions clamping the tip-plug to rotate it,

It also often IOO les

IIO

and also provided with an outer mandrel portion loosely iitting Within the tip-plug and having a rounded extremity projecting beyond the outer end of the clamped plug and guiding the tube foundation-spiral into engagement with the plug, substantially as described.

2. A tube-tipping tool, comprisin g an inner singularly-formed outwardly-tapered portion having edges clamping the tip-plug, and an outer mandrel portion over which the tip-plug ts loosely and which has a rounded extremity projecting beyond the outer end of the clamped plug and guiding the tube foundation-spiral into engagement with the plug, substantially as described.

3. Apparatus for tipping tubing7 comprising a revoluble spindle, a mandrel adapted thereto and loosely'fltting Within the tip-plug and having inner edges or portions clamping the plug and also having a rounded extremity projecting beyondv the outer end of the clamped plug and guiding the tube foundation-spiral into engagement With the plug during its rotation by the spindle, substantiallyas described.

4. Apparatus for tipping tubing, comprising a revoluble spindle, a mandrel adapted thereto and having an inner angularly-formed outwardlytapered portion provided with edges clamping the tip-plug, said mandrel having an outer portion loosely fitting Within the plug and also having a rounded extremity projecting beyond the outer end of the clamped plug and guiding the tube foundation-spiral into engagement with the plug during its rotation by the spindle, substantially as described.

CHARLES D. FREES.

W'itnesses:

DENIS DONOVAN, JOHN JAMES GAUTIER. 

